Abstract

Background and purpose Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is common in the ageing brain and is associated with dementia and lobar intracerebral haemorrhage.
We systematically reviewed genetic associations with CAA to better understand its pathogenesis.

Methods We comprehensively sought and critically appraised published studies of associations between any genetic polymorphism and
histopathologically confirmed CAA. We assessed the effects of genotype by calculating study specific and pooled odds ratios
(ORs) in meta-analyses, and assessed small study bias.

Conclusions There is convincing evidence for a dose dependent association between APOE ɛ4 and sporadic CAA. Further work is needed to
better understand the mechanism of this association and to further investigate other genetic associations with CAA.